Tag: Devotion

God choose beforehand, determine in advance in eternity past, whom He will save to bear the name of His Son upon the earth in his lifetime. To be chosen by the Father, purchased by the Son and sealed by the Spirit. What a great privilege it is to be called into faith and to live the life of faith.

This verse provides encouragement to the believer, “the called”, throughout the ages as he comes to understand the excellent care of God in his life. God orders the events, encounters and experiences in the believer’s life for his good. Although he may not understand why he has to go through the various stages of his life, he can trust God to order all things for his well-being. It is the overall thought for our meditation. There are no accidentals or incidentals in the believer’s life. Everything is under the full control and purview of our great God.

The Apostle Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit aids the believer to the will of God. The mysterious working of the Holy Spirit within us is not seen but can be understood as a comforting truth and a life-bearing compass. Indeed, as the godly man’s reminder goes “the believer’s heart is the Holy Spirit’s home. Have you God nudging you lately? The Holy Spirit can do more in a minute than we can do ourselves in a lifetime”!

The Holy Spirit sustains us by His divine presence helping us overcome our sin, the flesh and the world. As the old saying goes, “If you have the Holy Spirit on the inside, you can stand any kind of battle on the outside…The human spirit fails unless the Holy Spirit fills.”

When Noah is building the ark, he has not seen rain. But he knows that God will be sending rain in the fullness of time and the ark that he builds will provide security and safety from the coming calamity. The Bible tells us that Noah feared God. He took God at His Word and proved Him faithful! Hebrews 11:6 testifies “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” May God grant us faith in His Word so that we will continue to hope in Him as we await His soon return! Amen.

Believers are the “firstfruits of the Spirit” in that the Holy Spirit indwells all who adopted into the family of God giving them the power to overcome sin. The believer can choose to yield to temptation and thus sin against God. The groaning that the Apostle Paul speaks of is the weariness that comes with that constant struggle. Satan and the world will continue to seduce the believer to their fallen ways. Each time the believer falls, he pays a price for the consequence of sin.

Since the fall of man, sin, sorrow and death has plagued humankind with untold misery. The curse came upon all the created world. And there seemed no relief since then. The Apostle Paul acknowledges that this sad predicament for the created world is a known truth to all. Here, he emphasizes the entire creation is groaning or signing in pain together like that of a woman in labour during childbirth. It is excruciating and unbearable.

The ravages of sin plague not only humankind but also all animate and inanimate living creatures. Thorns and thistles grew from the ground and animals become carnivorous predators. This will continue until the time when Christ returns to restore order in His creation to the pre-fall Edenic state. There will be no more spiritual blindness, apostasy, crime and rebellion, debts, bankruptcies, greed or repossession of properties.

The Apostle Paul reveals to us that the creation eagerly anticipates and patiently awaits the time when Christ would return to restore it to pre-fall Edenic paradise. At that time, the children of God will rule with Christ for a one thousand years on earth (Rev. 20:1-6) and thereafter this present heaven and earth will be destroyed and God will create a new heaven and a new earth and eternity will begin. How does this coming future affect the Christian? It will teach him to seek the things that has eternal value rather the things of this world that has a temporal value and will perish with time!

When Jesus sent His disciples forth to preach the gospel. He prepared their hearts to expect persecution and inevitable suffering. They would suffer for His name’s sake. He sends them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. There would be imminent danger. But He also promises them His take care for them. Jesus tells them that if God would take care of the sparrows, surely they are more precious than many sparrows. In fact, all the hairs on their head are numbered. And Jesus sets the example for suffering for the sake of the gospel. The Apostle Peter encouraged believers to learn from the example of their Master, Jesus Christ. He denied the Lord three times and was forgiven and restored after Jesus’ resurrection by the Lake of Galilee. He served as one who has failed the Lord before. He writes to encourage us to persevere in service despite suffering.